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WASHINGTON – In advance of tonight’s NBC News/POLITICO
presidential debate, LCV Senior Vice President of Campaigns Navin Nayak
released the following statement questioning just how the candidates will talk
about jobs during the primetime discussion:

“There is no debating that our country needs more jobs, but
the main idea that we’ve heard from presidential candidates so far is to give
corporations more power, and leave Americans to fend for themselves. On the
campaign trail and in debates, candidates have attacked cherished public health
protections that provide clean air and clean water. Destroying these vital
protections doesn’t create jobs, it costs lives. Tens of thousands of lives. So
the question for tonight’s debate is simple: just how many lives are these
candidates willing to sacrifice to please polluters?

If these candidates continue to make wild claims that fly in
the face of science and popular opinion, they will lose the center where poll
after poll shows that Americans oppose eliminating their basic public health
protections for the air we breathe and the water we drink. That the
presidential candidates think borrowing ideas to weaken public health from the
most unpopular Congress in American history is a winning agenda shows just how
out of touch they really are with the American public.”

A CNN poll conducted immediately after the budget showdown
this spring, found that a staggering 71 percent say the federal government
should continue to provide financing to the EPA to enforce regulations on
greenhouse gas emissions. (Q18; http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/04/11/rel6a.pdf)

PUBLIC HEALTH STATISTICS

The repeal of five EPA regulations targeted by
Eric Cantor and Republican leadership could lead to up to 68,100 additional
premature deaths and 52,000 additional hospitalizations annually. These
regulations “would also reduce aggravated asthma cases by up to 657,000”
and “potentially prevent 5.6 million missed days of school or work due to
respiratory distress or ailments linked to air pollution.” [Center
for American Progress, 9/6/11]

According to the
Washington Post, “The EPA asserts that for every dollar spent on
measures to cut particulate and ozone pollution, there will be $30 in economic
benefits to public health — fewer sick days taken, fewer chronic illnesses,
fewer early deaths.” [Washington
Post, 7/2/11]

By 2020, the Clean Air Act will prevent 230,000
premature deaths each year from illness related to air pollution. The Act
and its amendments would also prevent over 22 million lost work and school
days; 200,000 heart attacks; and 2.4 million asthma attacks. The
regulations will also save an estimated $2 trillion in health care costs by
2020. In comparison, the original cost of implementation was $65
million. [EPA
Second Prospective Study, April 2011]

In just the year 2010, the Clean Air Act
prevented 160,000 premature deaths; 130,000 heart attacks, 13 million missed
work days and 1.7 million asthma attacks. [EPA Second Prospective
Study, April 2011]

Navin Nayak will be available for comment immediately
following this evening’s debate. Contact Kate Geller at (516) 446-9703 (cell)
or kgeller@lcv.org to schedule an
interview.